Microsoft Corp is set to report a dip in earnings on Thursday, a year after the launch of its Windows 7 operating system blew away Wall Street estimates, as sales of personal computers lag expectations and Apple Inc's iPad eats away at the fringes of its core market.
The world's largest software maker, which powers more than 90 percent of the world's computers, is still a money-making machine, but its fortunes are tied to vulnerable PC sales and investors have doubts it can replicate its dominance in the fast-growing mobile and tablet markets.
Its stock is down 2.4 percent in the last 12 months, compared with a 24 percent rise in the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
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